Annually, more than one million people contract infections in a hospital while they are being treated for some other disease or condition. One common cause of transfer of infections between patients is the stethoscope. The stethoscope is used on nearly all patients to monitor cardiac, pulmonary or digestive sounds, but is rarely washed between patients. One study sampling 150 stethoscopes found that 133 of them (88%) harbored Staphylococcus bacteria. Infections, including nosocomial infections, which are those that are contracted in a medical facility, cost taxpayers over 25 billion dollars annually. While increased washing of stethoscopes or the use of barrier devices, such as plastic sleeves, may reduce nosocomial infections, these options are often not practical in fast-paced medical environments.
Additionally, conventional stethoscopes cannot separate the sounds from one bodily function from another and require the practitioner to listen for pulmonary, cardiac or digestive sounds while the other sounds are also present, and sometimes louder than the sound of interest. While simple non-invasive cardiac function can be monitored by taking a patient's pulse or measuring blood pressure, simple non-invasive pulmonary function can only be adequately determined by directly listening to the lungs with a stethoscope. Placing a hand over the patient's mouth or listening to breath from the mouth and nose do not provide adequate insight into lung function. Furthermore, cardiac and pulmonary sounds tend to be in the same frequency, so pulmonary sounds, particularly weak pulmonary sounds, can be difficult to discern.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a stethoscope device that is useable on a single patient and is disposable in order to prevent transmission of infectious organisms by conventional stethoscopes and for a device that can filter cardiac, pulmonary and digestive sounds, allowing the practitioner to listen to, and focus on, only one type of bodily sound.
As the shortage of medical professionals persists, there exists a need for a stethoscope that will allow for a physician to simultaneously monitor multiple patients.